Growth & Productivity

GDP, growth, productivity, and business investment

This page explores how fast the economy is growing, how large it is, productivity, and business investment, with Canada placed alongside 16 OECD peers. Jobs and unemployment are on the Jobs page, inflation and the cost of living on Cost of Living, and trade and the Canadian dollar on Trade.

Canada in the world

With a GDP of about US$2.3 trillion, Canada is the world’s 10th-largest economy. Each dot below is a country, sorted by GDP on a ratio (logarithmic) scale; Canada is in maroon.

Where Canada stands

A scorecard of where Canada ranks among the peer group’s 17 economies on each measure (latest available year). Dots are ordered by rank, so further right is more favourable for Canada. Canada is maroon, key comparators in colour; hover a dot for its value and rank.

Quarterly GDP growth

Real (inflation-adjusted) gross domestic product, shown as the change from the previous quarter, for every quarter back to 1961. Red bars mark quarters in which the economy contracted. A recession is commonly defined as two consecutive quarters of declining real GDP; officially recognized recessions since 1980 are marked here as shaded bands. The full record places recent quarters alongside past downturns: the contractions of the early 1980s and early 1990s, the 2008–09 financial crisis, and the massive swings of the 2020 pandemic. (Statistics Canada’s published “% change” is this quarter-over-quarter measure; the figure often quoted in the news, “X% annualized”, is the same change compounded to a yearly rate.)

Real GDP growth

Annual percentage change in real (inflation-adjusted) GDP, i.e., the headline measure of how fast the economy is expanding or contracting. The most recent year or two are OECD projections rather than final figures.

GDP per capita (PPP, current USD)

GDP per capita at purchasing power parity allows meaningful comparison of living standards across countries. Canada is shown in maroon; the United States and other key comparators are highlighted in colour, with the remaining peers in light grey.

Latest GDP per capita: ranked

GDP per capita relative to the US and peers

Are Canadian living standards keeping pace? This chart shows Canada’s GDP per capita (PPP) as a percentage of the United States and of the peer-group average (the other 16 OECD economies), over time. A value of 100% means parity (equal); below 100% means Canada trails.

Labour productivity (GDP per hour worked)

GDP per hour worked measures how efficiently an economy converts labour into output. Canada’s gap relative to the United States and other leading economies has persisted for decades.

Latest labour productivity: ranked

What drives GDP per capita: productivity or hours worked?

GDP per capita is the broadest measure of material living standards. It can rise for two different reasons: each hour of work can produce more (labour productivity), or more hours can be worked per person in the population (labour utilization, which rises when a larger share of people work or they work longer). The two multiply together to give GDP per capita, so indexing all three to a common base year separates their contributions. The distinction matters because the two have very different ceilings: hours per capita can climb only so far (through higher employment or longer working hours) whereas productivity growth driven by investment, skills and innovation can compound and increase indefinitely. Canada’s productivity growth has lagged the leading economies for decades.

Business investment

Gross fixed capital formation as a share of GDP. This includes things like spending on machinery, equipment, buildings, and intellectual property. This investment is what builds the tools and things each worker has to use, so it is closely tied to the productivity and GDP-per-capita picture. Persistently weak investment is one of the most common explanations for weak productivity growth.

Latest business investment: ranked

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